SPRINGFIELD — It was only the second year of operation for the O’Dell Women’s Center Foundation, but it made a substantial impact in the city of Springfield and surrounding communities.
In 2025, the foundation awarded $550,000 in grants and emergency funding to nonprofits that improve the lives of women.
The O’Dell Women’s Center was established in 2023 to aid the circumstances and future prospects of women in Springfield.
Located at 45 Lyman St., the center offers educational and career opportunities and community support programs. It also houses Dress for Success Western Massachusetts, a nonprofit that helps women prepare for job interviews. In its first year of philanthropic giving, the foundation distributed $250,000. After more than doubling that amount in 2025, the organization has set goals to distribute $750,000 at the end of this year and $1 million in 2027.
Executive Director Margaret Tantillo explained that the foundation’s funding cycle opens to applications in July and closes in September. In 2025, $450,000 in grants were awarded to nine organizations and institutions for programs that help remove barriers to educational, economic and social stability.
- Bay Path University — to support a new emergency assistance initiative for Springfield-based students facing unexpected crises, which will help women remain enrolled.Dress for Success Western Massachusetts — to provide a continuum of career support and help women achieve long-term financial independence.
- Girls Inc. of the Valley — to support the Eureka! Program, a no-cost, five-year STEM initiative.
- The Gray House — to strengthen adult education services for low-income migrants and refugees.
- It Takes a Village — to expand basic needs programming that fills critical service gaps for low-income women and families.
- MassHire Holyoke — to implement the GLOW program in Springfield, a holistic workforce initiative combining intensive case management, job placement and wrap-around support.
- South End Community Center — to offer safe, reliable childcare through afterschool, vacation, summer and school-closure programs, supporting parents’ ability to work and pursue education.
- Tech Foundry — to deliver digital literacy instruction, professional development and career mapping for women participating through YWCA programming.
- United Way of Pioneer Valley — to increase food pantry access and strengthening Thrive Financial Wellness programming through individualized financial coaching for underserved women.
“These partnerships reflect our belief that economic stability is built through coordinated, community-driven solutions,” Keely Krantz, founder and president of the O’Dell Women’s Center Foundation, said in a press release about the funding. “When women have access to basic needs, education, and career opportunities, entire families and communities are strengthened.”
While it was outside the planned funding cycle, the foundation found itself in a position to help when the federal government shutdown in October 2025 and Supplemental Nutritional Assistance Program funding was withheld the following month. Families across the country found themselves without enough money to feed their families. With nowhere else to turn, people flooded into food pantries.
“The shelves were literally bare,” Tantillo recalled. The foundation distributed $100,000 in emergency funds to several food pantries in the Springfield area, helping them restock.
In the year ahead, Tantillo said, the O’Dell Women’s Center is planning to expand the use of its 10,000-square-foot building, allowing no-cost use for “like-minded” organizations and individuals whose work aligns with the center’s mission.
“It’s so special to me,” Tantillo said. “It’s another way that we deliver philanthropy.” She said the center is also piloting its “Bridging Navigator” program, a one-on-one peer mentorship for “women who are stuck where they’re at,” largely due to socio-economic reasons. She explained that the mentors, women who have experience with similar circumstances, will help people see and pursue a path forward.
For more information about volunteering or receiving services through the O’Dell Women’s Center, visit odellwomenscenter.com.
